Human Is the Creator
We do not know whether the human species is superior in intelligence, but it is clearly more capable than other beings when it comes to learning. In fact, humanity has been able to continue its lineage precisely because it can learn from scratch. Those who failed to relearn the cultural codes with each new birth were left behind.
Money as a Construct of the State
Through culture that is relearned with every birth, and through issues reconsidered anew each day, we also constructed a tool called money. It most likely emerged as a means of anonymous violence. Where there was no state, there was no money; and today’s understanding of money was built by inter-state systems. How did a tool of the state turn into a life purpose for individuals?
The Purpose of Life
Life has no single purpose. Its objective purpose is to survive; its subjective purpose is to complete motivation. In other words, we invent a purpose, try to satisfy it, and call that the meaning of life.
In the past, this purpose was given by our social group. Respect for one’s profession, respect for ancestors, submission to a higher god—these were ready-made purposes. As society changed, the purposes we had been pre-coded with for thousands of years became insufficient. We began searching for the purpose of life. Some of us adopted money as that purpose, even though money was merely a tool of the state—hardly even real.
Why Is Making Money the Purpose Wrong?
Humans are exceptionally good at reconsidering, focusing, and investing effort. But when they look in the wrong direction and focus on the wrong thing, they become deeply entangled in error.
A dog’s choice of career or family does not drastically shape its life; a human’s choices do. Money is such a choice. When chosen incorrectly, it becomes an irreparable ghost, a children’s fairy tale. No rational person would accept dying the next day in exchange for a billion dollars. Life is more valuable than money, and there are other purposes. Perhaps things that can be bought with money can be goals—but they are certainly not the best ones.
How did we end up dedicating our lives to a symbol invented by states for power? In fact, we also dedicate ourselves to the state. Social status and living according to others are diseases that keep human communities standing. Across the world, individuals who die for countless harmful ideologies are tragic outcomes of our ability to relearn and be reprogrammed. Making money a purpose is another example of this belated imitation.
Counterarguments
When asked why he became rich, Warren Buffett—one of the wealthiest people in the world—says, “I wanted to be free. I wanted to do what I wanted.” Note that he does not say “money.” Freedom is a legitimate purpose.
Moreover, Buffett lives in a modest house, drives an ordinary car, and follows discount campaigns to save a dollar on meals. There are non-modest wealthy people as well, but it can be said that for them money is merely a burden.
Most people do not want money; they want to show off, and they call it money.
Most people say they want to fulfill their desires, yet desires exist not to be satisfied but to be postponed—they always demand more.
Most people say they want to help, but they overlook that humans receive help not through material wealth, but through mental presence.
If money directs us toward desire and consumption, then it destroys us in an endless vortex. For most people, too much money is harmful. Giving money to someone who only aims for money is as harmful as giving drugs to a drug addict.
What Should We Do?
As a result of billions of years of evolution, it is not difficult to assume that everything needed for happiness already exists within us. To be happy, it may be better not to do something rather than to do something.
Do not do the wrong thing.
If you did, do not continue.
If you continued, stop now.
For example, if you aimed for money, aim to be human instead—this is more attainable. If you failed to reach money, there is still wisdom within you that you can reach. Owning things only increases the burden of the journey. Is it necessary to live in a better house? Yes. But one should think not of the house or the money, but of the peace to be lived inside that house. After all, it is possible to own a house and still be restless.
Perhaps life gives us not what we want, but what we need. Among these are challenges that form a purpose for life. A purpose-less struggle for survival is, for most people, the most profitable one.
